The Los Angeles/California/Anaheim Angels have played almost 60 seasons of baseball. As the baseball world is suspended due to circumstances outside its control, it is time to look back at the history of this organization. There have been many talented players to put on the uniform, and we at Crashing the Pearly Gates wish to highlight the best who have ever represented the Angels. Without further ado, here we go!
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Jerry Remy was a second baseman who played just three seasons with the Angels, and although the stats may not pop out, those three seasons were strong. Remy’s three campaigns, from 1975-1977, saw him post bWARs of 2.8, 3.2, and 2.1. For comparison, Tommy La Stella’s bWAR in 2019 was 2.0.
Remy stole 110 bases with the Halos, good for 12th all-time in the franchise, and although he seemed to be caught a decent amount, he just kept running. (It was very clearly a different time.) In 1975, as a rookie, he was caught a league-leading 21 times. Remy also played fantastic defense, with a large portion of his value coming from the glove.
Although Remy’s slash line over those three seasons was .258/.315/.319/.634 across 1845 PA, which does not look that impressive, it’s important to remember that second basemen did not hit that well during this time period, and that helped him post positive offensive WAR values.
Remy was traded for pitcher Don Aase (who will appear later on this list) after the 1977 campaign. He joined that Boston franchise, and he has been a color commentator for the Red Sox for some time now. Whenever I tune into the Red Sox broadcast on MLB.TV, I find that I like listening to the tandem of Dave O’Brien and Remy. It’s good that he proves that that franchise has some positive aspects! =)
Silver linings, right?!
Yeah. It was a different time. Kinda wish the Angels would run more.